The Exchange New Canadian $20 Bill Too Provocative for Some

[Hum]

The bill features Queen Elizabeth II, who is celebrating her Diamond Jubilee this year, on the front of the note. The back pays tribute to the sacrifices of Canadian men and women in military conflicts with an image of the Canadian National Vimy Memorial. (Watch the Bank of Canada's video introducing the new bill and the significance of Vimy here.)

However, some people have called elements of the bill "pornographic," while others have noted a resemblance to the Twin Towers that used to stand in lower Manhattan.

The main reason for issuing a new $20 is to prevent counterfeiting threats, said the bank. The new polymer notes are also cheaper and have a smaller environmental footprint. (An image of the back of the $20 note is below.)

The bank hired a research firm to hold focus groups with Canadians to get their opinion on the new currency. They found that not only did most Canadians not know of the Vimy Memorial's existence, but that some of those surveyed said the monument reminded them of New York's World Trade Center that was attacked and destroyed on Sept. 11, 2001, according to an internal report cited in a CTV article.

The memorial, in Vimy, France, commemorates the Battle of Vimy Ridge and honors those who fought and died in the WWI in France and have no known grave. One focus group respondent was critical of the banknote's war imagery given the "climate domestically and around the world" -- as well as Canada's reputation as a peacekeeper. Perhaps a symbol of peace would be better, the participant suggested, according to the report.

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[Japlabot]

uuuh People will complain about anything. It doesn't look anything like the WTC and how on earth could it be considered pornographic.

[Hum]

^ Pornography is not always sexual.

por?nog?ra?phy

? ?[pawr-nog-ruh-fee]

noun

obscene writings, drawings, photographs, or the like, especially those having little or no artistic merit.

ob?scene

? ?[uhb-seen]

adjective

1.

offensive to morality or decency; indecent; depraved: obscene language.

3.

abominable; disgusting; repulsive.

[Buttus]

when did tiny little topless women become pornographic?

[+Warwagon MVC]

You are right, it looks like the person is wiping their ass with the photo.

[insanelyapple]

Vimy Memorial looks beautiful and reminds me Isildur and Anarion statues from LOTR :p; i cant see anything 'pornographic' or 'provocative' and its Canada own business what they want put on their banknotes.

The World does not spins exclusively for USA.

[ahhell]

These ****ing idiots need a few glasses of shut the **** up.

It's amazing how people will find a way to bitch about the stupidest bloody things.

[zeta_immersion]

damn it, where is the pornography ...... f@king hell ... i cannot see it

[Astral]

What a joke. Can't please everyone...

[linsook]

looks good to me.

[neufuse Veteran]

that's one ugly and busy design... remindes me of something you'd make in MS Publisher or something

[Stephen Veteran]

damn it, where is the pornography ...... f@king hell ... i cannot see it

if you click on the article, the memorial has some breasts on it. still not pornography however.

[+Byt Subscriber¹]

You are right, it looks like the person is wiping their ass with the photo.

Cannot unsee :o

[devBrian]

Looks like someone got a hold of a clip art program.

[zeta_immersion]

###### ... I love ###### ... ###### are awesome, why offended? ... why so prude? .. of for f's sake grow some backbone the note looks just fine ... I would rmeove the popies as the red does not compliment the color scheme ... seem to be out of place

[Argi]

They can do a lot better design that that. Sheesh.

[Beyond Godlike]

Wonder how much money was designing that ugly piece of crap.

[Rigby]

That is a really ugly bill.

[butilikethecookie]

Unless you think the queen is sexy, I can't find anything pornographic...

*yuck*

[dvferret]

uuuh People will complain about anything. It doesn't look anything like the WTC and how on earth could it be considered pornographic.

Looks pretty dang hideous thou!

[Denis W. Veteran]

The 100 and 50s are already in circulation and look pretty good. In pictures they look cheap and visually distracting but consider the white section is semitransparent. Ref: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frontier_Series

That said, the current bills are less visually noisy and more elegant. Example, the current 20: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canadian_twenty-dollar_bill

Either way, still better than plain American bills :p

[BobSlob]

I know the bill "appears" ugly.. but a lot of the things that make it look busy are security features and are not visible most of the time.

[+Mirumir Subscriber¹]

The new bill is fine imho.

[.Neo]

that's one ugly and busy design... remindes me of something you'd make in MS Publisher or something

At least it isn't as bad as those archaic and dull looking US dollar bills.

[XerXis]

must be some minor, very vocal percentage of the people. At least I hope so